Who Are We? ‘Sader Ig-Nation Review Team!

The Ignatian Review Team with Bob Brave Heart. Photo by Chris Ives. Copyright Red Cloud Indian School.

Who Are We? ‘Sader Ig-Nation Review Team!

By Colton Sierra ‘14

One of most important lunches to ever happen at Red Cloud occurred on Monday the 27th. There are many important lunches, but this lunch has not and does not come along often. This lunch was put together by our very own Brad Held S.J. and Robin Johnson and was the first to happen here at Red Cloud. It involved Red Cloud students and the visiting Ignatian Review Team.

Red Cloud’s Ignatian Identity Review team came to visit for a few days this week to check how we as a school are living out the criteria found in What Makes a Jesuit High School Jesuit? The team members told Fr. George that the most anticipated part about the trip to Red Cloud was meeting with the students.

“We prepared since last March for this visit,” said Held. “I am very excited for them to experience Red Cloud.”

Savannah Jensen, Ryan Hussman, and myself were the three seniors who attended the lunch, along with juniors Carlee Janis and Zach Nunez. We all were asked questions about the school and general questions about our lives so that the Review Team could help connect on more personal level with the students.

“I was a little nervous about being there but it was nice to reflect back on our school,” said Nunez. He was seated alongside Janis. They weren’t shy to tackle some of the questions.

Since this was the first time this Review Team visited Red Cloud, I asked them about their first feelings upon arriving here. “It was geography shock,” said Terry Tyrell, the principal over at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati.

“It was overwhelming since our context was different,” said Mari Thomas, Vice President at the Jesuit Secondary Education Association in Washington, D.C.

Held’s inspiration for this lunch came from when he was a part of a visitation team that visited Loyola High School in Detroit. Loyola’s president arranged a similar lunch for their students, which sparked the idea for a lunch to be held at Red Cloud.

“The lunch is a really great way for them to have an extended conversation with the students, and this year the Review Team really enjoyed the lunch,” said Held.

The next time Red Cloud’s Ignatian Identity Review Team visits will be in five years.